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No Step on Snek: Remastered!

1 0 381
by Shlappz updated January 20, 2025

Smite God: Medusa

Build Guide Discussion 3 More Guides
Choose a Build: Carry Build
Carry Build Midusa Jungle Build
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Build Summary

Full Build

Notes This is a hybrid double-stack build that first boosts Medusa's abilities for easy wave clear and early kills, then transitions into an AA build which will shred through most foes, with a dash of lifesteal for good measure.

Notes

This is a hybrid double-stack build that first boosts Medusa's abilities for easy wave clear and early kills, then transitions into an AA build which will shred through most foes, with a dash of lifesteal for good measure.

Build Item Bluestone Brooch Bluestone Brooch
Build Item Transcendence (Evolved) Transcendence (Evolved)
Build Item Book of Thoth (Evolved) Book of Thoth (Evolved)
Build Item Sun Beam Bow Sun Beam Bow
Build Item The Executioner The Executioner
Build Item Qin's Blade Qin's Blade
Build Item Serrated Edge Serrated Edge
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Aegis of Acceleration Aegis of Acceleration
Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune

Medusa's Skill Order Notes Rush Acid Spray, then Viper Shot, then Lacerate.

Notes

Rush Acid Spray, then Viper Shot, then Lacerate.

Viper Shot

1 X Y
Viper Shot
3 8 11 12 14

Acid Spray

2 A B
Acid Spray
1 4 6 7 10

Lacerate

3 B A
Lacerate
2 15 16 18 19

Petrify

4 Y X
Petrify
5 9 13 17 20
Viper Shot
3 8 11 12 14

Viper Shot

1 X
Gain Attack Speed and augment your next 4 Basic Attacks, shooting vipers that poison the targets hit, dealing Physical Damage every 0.5s for 1.5s.
  • Each successful viper hit on an enemy god reduces the Cooldown of this ability by 0.5s.
Damage Per Tick: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35
Damage Scaling Per Tick: 6% Strength and 8% Intelligence
Attack Speed: 60%
Attack Speed Scaling: 10% Strength
Range: 8.8m
Radius: 0.5m
Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10s
Cost: 50
Acid Spray
1 4 6 7 10

Acid Spray

2 A
Spit acid that deals Physical Damage to the first enemy hit, then spraying out in a cone behind them.
  • Enemies hit have their Healing Taken reduced for 5s.
  • Acid Spray will explode on statues Medusa has created.
Damage: 100 / 155 / 210 / 265 / 320
Damage Scaling: 60% Strength and 75% Intelligence
Healing Reduction: 40%
Range: 7.2m
Radius: 0.6m
Cone Range: 5.6m
Cone Angle: 70 degrees
Cooldown: 15 / 14.5 / 14 / 13.5 / 13s
Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
Lacerate
2 15 16 18 19

Lacerate

3 B
Slither forward, dealing Physical Damage to all enemies you pass through.
  • The first enemy god you encounter causes you to stop before damaging and Rooting the god hit.
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280
Damage Scaling: 75% Strength and 40% Intelligence
Root Duration: 1s
Range: 8.8m
Radius: 1m
Cooldown: 16 / 15.5 / 15 / 14.5 / 14s
Cost: 70

Additional Notes:
  • Destroy statues instantly when colliding with them during this ability.
Petrify
5 9 13 17 20

Petrify

4 Y
Remove your mask, revealing your true face to deliver a powerful blast from your horrifying gorgon gaze.
  • Enemies are dealt Physical Damage and Stunned if they look at you.
  • Enemies are dealt reduced Physical Damage and Slowed if they are not looking at you.
  • You are CC Immune while using this ability.
Damage: 270 / 365 / 460 / 555 / 650
Damage Scaling: 65% Strength and 85% Intelligence
Slow: 20/25/30/35/40%
Slow Duration: 3s
Stun Duration: 2s
Strength: 10%
Intelligence: 10%
Buff Duration: 10s
Permanent Strength: 5
Permanent Intelligence: 5
Range: 11.2m
Cone Angle: 40 degrees
Cooldown: 100s
Cost: 100

Additional Notes:
  • This ability does not hit through map walls and player made walls that block abilities.
  • Enemy gods that are killed while affected by this ability are turned into a stone statue and remain behind as a reminder to others.
  • Statues last indefinitely but may be killed with 4 Basic Attacks or by Lacerate.
  • When a statue is destroyed, the cooldown of Lacerate is reduced by 5s, you gain a temporary Strength and Intelligence buff, and you gain a permanent stack of Strength and Intelligence.

Extended Build

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the REMASTERED version of my first guide on SMITEFire for my main, Medusa! I have her Rank X in both Smite 1 and Smite 2. This is an all-purpose guide that attempts to cover every little detail of our reptilian beauty queen in as much depth as possible. She really hasn't changed that much between games, so Smite 1 players will have an easy time transitioning to Smite 2. If you have questions or advice about the guide, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

My original guide that this is based on was an AWARD WINNINGguide! Although it has been many years since then, hopefully I will be able to live up to that standard of quality in this new version.


Who is Medusa?

(credit to MattRhodesArt)
Lore

Pros and Cons

Pros:
+ Reasonably strong in all stages of the game
+ Easy wave clear and poke
+ Strong ultimate for team fights
+ Passive makes her good at boxing and juking out enemies
+ Has a small niche against healers with her dash
+ Statues from ultimate are fun to look at and give her a small buff when destroyed
+ All of her skins are incredible

Cons:
- Squishy
- Ultimate is easily countered if the enemy is paying attention
- Trying to escape with the dash and hitting an enemy can get you killed if not careful
- Ugliest goddess in the game (but don't tell her I said that)

Stats

Base Stats
You probably don't care about the numbers, but I'm including them for the sake of completeness.
General
Health: To be added soon
Mana:
Speed:
Range:
Attack/Sec:

Regen
HP5:
MP5:

Protection
Magical:
Physical:

Basic Attack
Damage:
Progression:

*Numbers in parentheses represent the amount gained with each level.
NOTE: These numbers are not automatically updated and may not be accurate if a new patch has recently released. Check the latest patch notes at Smite 2's official website for the most up to date information.

Skills and Combos

~ Skills ~

Passive - Sidewinder
I love passives you don't have to think about. Sidewinder helps Medusa with boxing by allowing her to better dodge enemy basic attacks. It also allows her to be more forgiving to newer players, to an extent. The downside is that it becomes pretty useless when slowed.

Ability Showcase


1 - Viper Shot
Use Viper Shot in boxing scenarios, or if you really need to clear the wave and your Acid Spray is on cooldown. Also, using this before engaging allows you to save precious time in battle, considering it isn't a timed steroid. The Damage over Time (DoT) that is applied can help snag some early kills, but otherwise isn't extremely useful.

Ability Showcase


2 - Acid Spray
This ability is your main way to clear minion waves. Simply hit the front minions and it'll spray back into the archers and maybe even poke the enemies if they are close enough. It does a decent amount of damage and is effective against squishy gods.

Ability Showcase


3 - Lacerate
This is both your initiator and escape, so use it wisely. Offensively, it does a lot of damage for a dash and puts you in point blank range to throw out either your Viper Shot or Acid Spray, or both, for unexpected burst damage, considering carries generally have great sustained damage instead. With 50% healing reduction upon striking an enemy, this ability gives Medusa a small niche against healers. Defensively, it is a normal dash with the exception that enemy gods can block it. Be careful to get out of the way before using it. Wards are your friends.

Ability Showcase


Ultimate - Petrify
Petrify is Medusa's most unique ability. It's essentially just a big cone stun/slow, but it also comes with the added bonus of turning actively stunned enemies into statues upon death! It can, however, be easily countered. Simply turn around, and the stun is negated and replaced with a slow which does 75% damage. In 1v1 scenarios, it is easy to counter, but in team fights, enemies may not see it coming because they are distracted. It also synergizes well with taunts or stuns from allies like Athena, because enemies literally cannot look away. A new addition in Smite 2 is that Medusa gets a small buff any time a statue is destroyed. This encourages your teammates to break them and discourages enemies from breaking them, forcing them to live with their past failures.

Ability Showcase

~ Combos ~



Use this to get up in the enemy's face and do a lot of poke damage. Chances are they will be caught off guard and flee, but if they don't, then keep up the aggression either through basic attacks or Acid Spray. Again, your dash is also your escape, so only use it offensively when you know you won't need it to run away. Keep in mind that Acid Spray is your main waveclear ability, so don't waste it if a wave is approaching. To clarify, activate your Viper Shot, then dash in, then actually shoot the vipers. It saves time this way. One key to doing well with Medusa is managing all her abilities and not putting yourself in bad situations.



The ally taunt + ultimate basically guarantees a successful stun, but if not, then you likely burned the enemy's Purification Beads or escape anyway. Once they are stunned, either shoot them dead or dash in and finish them off with whatever else you have available. Keep in mind it can be any taunt from any god, not just Athena's Confound, although she does have great synergy with our scaly antagonist, as mentioned below in the "Lane Synergies" section.



This combo is the "dump everything you have" combo. Only use it when you know you can get away safely, primarily in a 1v1 scenario. If you do it in a team fight, you will be vulnerable for about 10 seconds until your cooldowns reset, and you will likely die. This combo is your trump card of crazy burst damage in "do or die" situations, but it is also fun to use in simple 1v1 boxing matches. Just keep in mind that your ultimate may be blocked in those cases. You activate the steroid early to save time in battle, as explained above.

Remember, teamwork makes the dream work!

(credit to Marsalinapocalypse)

Aspects

Medusa does not currently have any Aspects.

Relics

~ Relics ~

In-Depth Relic Discussion

Items

I will add a section here talking about the justification and reasoning behind every item in every build I've laid out, as well as alternative items you could build, but I am still working on finalizing the builds for each mode. I want to receive some feedback first. Consider this to be Coming Soon^TM

Gameplay

~ Conquest Gameplay ~

In-Depth Gameplay Discussion

~ Other Modes Gameplay ~

In-Depth Gameplay Discussion

Lane Matchups

Easy Difficulty

Sol was strong for a while in the Closed Alpha, but dropped down the tier list as more gods got added. Her Stellar Burst gives her very easy to land poke damage and her ult is good for securing kills. Her Disapparate is basically an Aegis Amulet with a 3 second delay, so she is fairly hard to kill if she knows when to use it. If left alone in the late game, she can melt towers like butter in a microwave. Get on her early and put her behind.

Medium Difficulty

Her Rapid Reincarnation gives her unparalleled mobility around the map and allows her to shrug off poke damage. Her Persistent Gust + Explosive Bolts combo allows her to clear minions very well, but makes her fairly mana hungry. This is not a huge deal, however, because of her passive. Agility also makes her very hard to catch, and can let her chase kills. She is more late game oriented, but can still cause trouble early and mid game, so be aggressive but careful.

Be wary of her Broken Weaves and World Weaver as they can catch you off guard and result in swift, annoying deaths. You might consider taking Aegis Amulet instead of Purification Beads. Her backflip makes her very hard to catch, so try to wait until she uses it to go in for the kill.

He is arguably the hardest hunter to play, but a Rank X Ullr is scary. His Hail of Arrows in bow stance has a long range and is good for poke or for securing kills on enemies who thought they got away. He is heavily reliant on his Thrown Axe to stun you and do poke damage, and most players either land it every time or whiff it every time, so it is kind of hard to rate his difficulty to play against.

Hard Difficulty


Pretty much every build seems to work on him and he has plenty of CC and damage. His Bramble Blast is easy damage and CC, he has multiple strong basic attack buffs (including a new Aspect that gives him melee attacks), a fast and long dash, and a crazy ult that turns enemies into wild boars. The general consensus is that he is a pain to fight.

Flying high into Smite 2 with a visual overhaul and a few buffs, Cupid is a very strong carry. His Heart Bomb is his most annoying ability. Combined with his reworked passive Lovestruck, he can be a real nuisance. He is one of the few hunters who is good at boxing you, so be careful. Also, he has sustain, so build lifesteal and antiheal. Cupid and Aphrodite together is a scary lane to face, so watch out.

The legendary tanuki is a particularly annoying matchup because of his Dishonest Duplication clones. He kind of feels like a carry version of Nu Wa. He can also disappear into the forest with Tanuki Trickery and chase you down relentlessly using Uproarious Rocket. Not even Jing Wei has an easy time escaping that stupid rocket.

She has decent waveclear due to her boomerang basic attacks and very high scaling abilities. Her early game is fairly decent, and around mid game she comes online and starts chunking your health like a mage would. For this reason, it is very important that you dodge her abilities. Try to shut her down early or else it will hurt.

Very Hard Difficulty

Anhur is the perfect counter to Medusa. He can make your passive useless with his AoE slow in Shifting Sands, and he can totally counter your dash (and, therefore, most of your combos) with Impale. To make matters worse, he can easily dodge your Petrify and retaliate by either leaping or using Desert Fury. Even a player of just average skill can totally shut you down. Watch out.

Lane Synergies

Great Synergy

Despite their hostile relationship in lore, Athena and Medusa are a tried and true duo lane "Wombo Combo." So much so, that I even mentioned it above in the Combos section, using it as an example. All she needs to do is land her taunt, and you have a captive audience for Petrify. Worst case scenario, the enemy's Purification Beads are used up.

He has a lot of damage and CC, enough that people make jokes about him being an assassin. He hits hard and fast, and hurts like hell. Who else does that sound like? Medusa! There isn't really a combo here, just let Bacchus initiate and go to town.

That's right, Fenrir is a support now. Similarly to Bacchus, he is aggressive and hard to shake off thanks to Brutalize. With a little coordination, he can deliver free kills to Medusa on a silver platter using Ragnarok.

Everyone's favorite Hug Bug doesn't do a lot of damage, but he got some nice additions to his kit in the move from Smite 1 to Smite 2. He can easily set up kills with his root in Solar Flare and grab in Abduct. And if you make a big mistake, he can save your scaly butt with Scarab's Blessing. He may not be the most aggressive support, but he still brings a lot to the table.

The killer croc is one of the strongest supports right now. He pairs very well with Medusa because of his ability to displace and disrupt the enemy. All he has to do is land his pluck, and enemies will fall right into your claws. With the right build he can be almost unkillable.

Medium Synergy

Geb got a deliciously strong Aspect that turns him into a real bruiser. It's meant to make him more of a solo laner, however. He shouldn't really use the Aspect in a support role. He still has plenty of CC and a shield in Stone Shield, so he isn't useless by any means.

He is a great support in general, but nothing makes him stand out when paired with Medusa. He has good waveclear, easily spammable CC, a giant wall to single out enemies or protect allies, and a high damage zoning ult. He's also very easy to play, so that's a bonus.

Poor Synergy

He doesn't play very much like a support. He's more of an ability-based bruiser with a cheesy ult in No Escape. His waveclear is mediocre at best. He is an aggressive bully and can set up kills, so he isn't totally awful, but his cons outweigh his pros, so he isn't up higher. You're also much more likely to find him outside of Conquest, in modes like Arena and Joust.

Similarly to Ares, he doesn't play much like a support. He is more of a hybrid bruiser who hits hard and is very annoying. Unfortunately, he is hard and risky to play and is well past his prime, having been much more potent and scary during the Season 3 power pot meta. Combined with some nerfs since then, he isn't a great partner in lane. He may, however, be seen in the solo lane sometimes.

Conclusion

This is an early draft of a guide for an early version of Smite 2. Everything is subject to change. I'm sure there's something I missed or something that could be improved. Please let me know in the comments! [VVGL] [VVGH]

Changelog

Jan 2025

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1
Branmuffin17 (401) | January 20, 2025 3:09pm
Hey Shlappz,

Welcome back!

Question...why are you going with Bluestone Brooch on a carry build that has no CDR? While I get the double-stacking will help with ability damage, you don't have ability pen support from a straight up pen item like Titan's Bane or Obsidian Shard...in order to get your pen, you'll need to build stacks via The Executioner first.

With that in mind, to me it makes more sense to just fully invest in basic attacks and pick up either Hunter's Cowl or Death's Embrace.

Speaking of, your early game is lacking a lifesteal item. I know Devourer's Gauntlet is generally popular (I'm not fully knowledgeable on meta builds yet though), and I do see you get Serrated late...but that's very late. While I've found lifesteal to feel very weak overall, any health sustain is going to be appreciated I'm sure. Is that partly why you're picking up Bluestone? The health regen is pretty decent, so I guess it works for that...but I still think that item doesn't fit very well with the rest of the build's intentions.

Given that Smite 2 is new and many people may not be that familiar with all of the items yet, one thing I think would be helpful to readers is if you explained your itemization in more detail. Why are you picking up each item in the positions you've chosen? Maybe help others by explaining why you're not going with crit items (as crits are definitely more popular in S1 compared to S2).
1
Shlappz (4) | January 20, 2025 4:55pm
Hi again!

Medusa can definitely work with a fully basic attack focused build. I'll probably add one to the guide as an option. Her abilities are pretty strong though. I feel like not investing in them would be a waste. That said, I've not had much luck playing Medusa with a fully ability focused build. Then it feels like her basic attacks are too weak, and even with CDR her cooldowns are fairly long. Is it just me? I've had the most success investing in both in a hybrid build. But then of course there's the question of how much to invest in each. This is where it gets very debatable, and with how new Smite 2 is, there is still a lot of experimenting going on.

Bluestone Pendant is mostly useful for getting that extra bit of damage on minions during the laning phase. At certain levels I find it helps Acid Spray one-shot the archers. And I do like the stats it gives. It felt good to me, but it's certainly not the only option. Perhaps the build could be adjusted in a way that further utilizes the upgraded Bluestone Brooch in the late game.

I do plan to add a section explaining the itemization, but I want to get a little feedback first before I write it up. You'll never hear me call myself an expert. I'm not a ranked player. I also missed out on a few of the later years of Smite 1 when I wasn't playing as much. So there are definitely some gaps in my Smite knowledge. It's been fun getting back into it with Smite 2, but that's why I hesitate. Anyway, I'll definitely add it very soon.

Thanks for the feedback!
1
Branmuffin17 (401) | January 20, 2025 5:17pm
Mostly what I'm saying here is that I don't think that Bluestone is a bad choice, but if I choose that, I want to have more opportunities to apply its damage. I would at least build 1 or 2 CDR items in that case.

While double-stacking is absolutely a thing, I think switching out Book of Thoth for an item with a bit of CDR would help justify Bluestone a bit more. Hydra's Lament and The Crusher are options (also having strength rather than int to help with your basic attack damage), with The Crusher also adding some % pen.

I would also say I generally like the feel of dual str/int items like Bragi's Harp, though that obviously is a basic attack item.

And yes, I don't personally like the feel of pure ability-based builds for her. Some attack speed makes her feel a lot better. It's been tough for me finding a build that feels great. You're always going to be giving up something or other. I'm currently tending to feel that I like strength items over int for her, and I've used non-crit builds a lot more than crit. I need to keep experimenting though.
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